(I'm not a storm expert, I've played quite a bit of modern storm. This was mostly from testing + reading blogs + watching vintage storm streams for a bit recently for the past 3 weeks)
One of the things i been doing recently is I've been playing around with storm drafts of Vintage Cube and I've noticed (at least from my experience) is that these lists have been relatively fragile, difficult to draft and often take turn 4-5 to go off without disruption. (I'm not sure, but this is from my understanding)
One problem I've been noticing consistently is the draw 7 (outside of time spiral) do not draw into the rituals/ fast mana similar to legacy/ vintage and the deck often needs to rely on going infinite off palinchron + mana doubler/ sneak attack, LED with breach / yawgwill or draw 7 + FastBond etc, or a mind's desire.
I've also notice that these storm decks that use Emarkul/ Eldrazi as their win con would prob be better off if they just went for artifact/ creature ramp instead of the storm route.
One of the thing I've been thinking about is the archetype "Reanimator storm"
Where the storm decks relies on creatures cheated into play to help generate the necessary storm:
I've noticed that storm decks, especially with LED, Wheel, Frantic Search etc have around the same number of discard spells as compared to a traditional cube reanimator deck. Especially with the number of draw spells storm decks have, assembling this combo might not be as difficult.
(Just a thought to open up the discussion)
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I've done a bit of testing today (mostly solitaire with storm lists I cube drafted) and I've found several cards not on the vintage cube/ traditional cubes here that are really strong for the storm deck:
1. Bonus Round - This card has proven to be incredibly good in any storm variants. It allows you to double your X burn spells and often makes it feasible for you to go off via an X burn/ draw spells doubled. It's also very good with any ritual, High tide, draw spells etc. (Narrow, but strong card)
2. Finale of Promise - Also very good to chain rituals/ draw spells into a win. (Also pretty good for spells matter decks)
3. Vessel of Volatility - jumping mana is always good. I recommend playing this card even for decks like Big Red/ Upheaval etc.
4. Summer Bloom - I really like this card in general. Especially with the new London Mulligan rule, we can afford to play less stable archetypes/ decks. Similarly, with more draw 7 in the cube, its often very strong. Could also be played in UG ramp etc
5. Dream Halls - Definitely playable, especially given that Echo of Eons and Commit // Memory are now in the cube.
I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
One of the things i been doing recently is I've been playing around with storm drafts of Vintage Cube and I've noticed (at least from my experience) is that these lists have been relatively fragile, difficult to draft and often take turn 4-5 to go off without disruption. (I'm not sure, but this is from my understanding)
One problem I've been noticing consistently is the draw 7 (outside of time spiral) do not draw into the rituals/ fast mana similar to legacy/ vintage and the deck often needs to rely on going infinite off palinchron + mana doubler/ sneak attack, LED with breach / yawgwill or draw 7 + FastBond etc, or a mind's desire.
I've also notice that these storm decks that use Emarkul/ Eldrazi as their win con would prob be better off if they just went for artifact/ creature ramp instead of the storm route.
One of the thing I've been thinking about is the archetype "Reanimator storm"
Where the storm decks relies on creatures cheated into play to help generate the necessary storm:
1) Energy Tap /Burnt Offering/Culling the Weak to use one mana to potentially generate 4 - 10 mana in one shot
2) Using cards like Goryo's Vengeance, Corpse Dance, Shallow Grave to bring a creature such as Narset, Enlightened Master, Griselbrand, Nyxbloom Ancient, Neheb, the Eternal, Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion(Prob there are alot more, but this is just off the top of my head) etc to deal some some damage and potentially draw into additional mana/ storm/ cards to use a X burn spell such as Profane Command or grapeshot to finish them off
I've noticed that storm decks, especially with LED, Wheel, Frantic Search etc have around the same number of discard spells as compared to a traditional cube reanimator deck. Especially with the number of draw spells storm decks have, assembling this combo might not be as difficult.
(Just a thought to open up the discussion)
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
1. Bonus Round - This card has proven to be incredibly good in any storm variants. It allows you to double your X burn spells and often makes it feasible for you to go off via an X burn/ draw spells doubled. It's also very good with any ritual, High tide, draw spells etc. (Narrow, but strong card)
2. Finale of Promise - Also very good to chain rituals/ draw spells into a win. (Also pretty good for spells matter decks)
3. Vessel of Volatility - jumping mana is always good. I recommend playing this card even for decks like Big Red/ Upheaval etc.
4. Summer Bloom - I really like this card in general. Especially with the new London Mulligan rule, we can afford to play less stable archetypes/ decks. Similarly, with more draw 7 in the cube, its often very strong. Could also be played in UG ramp etc
5. Dream Halls - Definitely playable, especially given that Echo of Eons and Commit // Memory are now in the cube.
6. Helm of Awakening - basically your 4th bear. Its very good.
7. Dictate of Karametra - Unlike the three mana spells, you can flash this in at the end your opponent's turn and then go off.
8. Any 2 mana artifact mana rocks that aren't played.
9. Sweepers/ Discard spells can help to buy time for your land drops to go off. Discard can be especially important against control opponents.
(I've been posting/ testing quite a bit recently. Like everyone else I've been stuck indoors because of the coronavirus)
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i